Page 26 of Bratva and Betrayal: Kirill

He crossed the distance in seconds, shoving me back with a force that would have amused me under different circumstances.

Drago entered seconds later. A good enforcer knew where to find trouble. His hand closed around the accountant’s throat, lifting him slightly off the carpet.

“Careful,” Drago murmured. “That is the future pakhan.”

“Stop!” Sandrine’s panicked voice flooded the room as she stepped between us. “Please, stop! Don’t hurt him. Dad, tell Kirill you’re sorry.”

Her father struggled to breathe, his face turning red.

“Drago,” I snapped. “Let him go. He’s just protecting his daughter.”

I had to admire that.

But as soon as he got away from my enforcer, De la Vega’s grip on Sandrine’s arm was immediate, and rougher than it needed to be.

Dark fury coiled in my chest at the sight of it.

“I will only say this once, Mr. Volkov. Stay away from my daughter,” De la Vega hissed, his voice low. “Sandrine is off limits. I make those payments to the women you discard.”

Payments? He’s thinking of my father.

Before I can refute the charge, De la Vega leans in, his eyes beady. “And I know of the arrangement with Chernov.”

Thoughts of Sandrine had my blood running hot moments ago. The mention of Adrian Chernov and his daughter turned every inch of me ice cold. That was an arrangement I had no intention of fulfilling. Despite fucking her a couple of months ago.

De la Vega pulled Sandrine toward the door, ignoring the way she stumbled on her heels. She tossed me a look dangerously close to regret over her shoulder, and it crushed my chest.

I moved to follow, instinct overriding my senses. Drago’s hand landed on my shoulder with enough pressure to stop me.

“Don’t,” he said firmly.

I watched De la Vega and Sandrine walk straight out the hotel’s front entrance. Her father roughly put on her coat outside where it was fucking freezing.

Then they were gone. The finality of it grated against me with raw intensity. My jaw tightened, the taste of vodka turning bitter on my tongue.

“She’s not off limits,” I said, my voice confident. “She’s mine. I don’t care what her father said. Get rid of him.”

Drago huffed out a breath. “Your father hired De la Vega for a reason. He knows how to move money. Hide it. We need him.”

Said the man who’d just tried to choke Sandrine’s father.

But Drago knew how, when, and where to unleash his impulse control problem. That’s what made him a good enforcer. They all needed to be a little touched.

“I don’t care,” I fought back anyway.

My gaze stayed fixed on the glass doors to the snowy street. It was as if I could track the path she was being taken away from me.

“Be careful, Kirill,” Drago warned.

“She’s an adult.”

“And if her father becomes a problem because you have to bed this one?”

I smiled up at the big bastard. “Then we’ll remove him,” I said simply. “I don’t care if he’s good with money. I’ll find someone else. I’m not keeping a man who doesn’t respect me on the payroll. Even if he is the father of my future wife.”

“Excuse me?” Drago asked with his jaw dropped.

“You heard me.”